Dancing as We Fall
by sparrowlove
Summary: Peter rescues Claire from someone he knows. Vague PeterClaire. Written for Heroes Fest at Livejournal.


He can't sleep

He can't sleep. He's too worried. Something tells him that Nathan has a plan, but right now, all Nathan has is a bullet in his chest and a team of security guards to rush him out of the room. Peter doesn't think Nathan will die, doesn't even think Nathan is injured; his brother seemed to be expecting it and therefore was surely prepared. Still, until he sees his brother again, alive and well, Peter will worry. And so, at nearly 4:30am, he is still awake in his hotel room. Then the phone rings.

"Nathan?"

"Peter?" The voice is horse and ragged, but most assuredly not his brother's.

"Claire?"

"Peter," the girl says, and Peter can hear the fear in her voice. "Peter, help. They're chasing me. I can't get away. They're outside. They're trying to get in. They're..." there is a crashing sound, probably a door being broken down. Claire screams.

"Claire? Claire!" Peter yells. "Where are you?"

"Basement," she pants. Peter thinks it sounds as though she is running, cell phone in her hand. She has just finished telling him the location when the line goes dead. Peter is off. He dashes through the hotel lobby, throwing himself out the door and into the sky. He soars above the city, looking frantically for the right building.

Peter catches a flash of blonde hair streaking across a road below. Praying that it is the right blonde and not just another lonely person in the night, Peter swoops down, pushing himself into a steep dive and dropping to the ground in front of the girl. In front of Claire.

"Thank god," he mutters as she runs to him.

"We have to go," she says. "Now." The men chasing her turn the corner and run towards them. Peter wraps his arms around his niece, lifting her off the ground and pulling her high and far out of the reach of her pursuers. He places Claire lightly on a rooftop and moves towards the edge. "What are you doing?" she whispers.

"Did you recognize any of them?" Peter asks. Claire shakes her head in the negative. "I'm going to try to find out who they are." He lets himself drop off the edge of the building and falls, hovering just out of sight of Claire's attackers. Peter doesn't recognize them. There is one man who Peter thinks he knows, with his scruffy hair and bright blue eyes, reflecting the light from the flashlight another of the men carries, but when Peter drops farther for a closer look, he cannot seem to see the man. Peter listens to the conversation.

"How do we know she's the one we're looking for?"

"We know."

"But how do you even know about her?"

"A politician's illegitimate daughter isn't exactly a well-kept secret." Peter clenches his jaw. Of course, it's about Nathan.

"Idiot." A voice Peter can't help but recognize comes from the darkness, and he understands why he can no longer find the familiar face. "He thinks if he exposes us, exposes himself, they can't hurt us. All that will happen is that there'll be more people who know about us, and therefore more people who will _want_ to hurt us." Then the man looks up and catches a glance of Peter floating overhead. "'ey," he yells. "That's the brother," he says to the other men, and they raise guns. Peter doesn't wait to see how their aim is.

When he lands back on the rooftop, Claire asks, "Who are they? Do you know them?"

"One of them," Peter mutters. "I thought he was on our side."

"Why are they here?"

"Nathan. Something. I don't know. We should get out of here." He picks her up again and flies away from the men, towards the edge of the city and the water past the buildings. He holds Claire tightly, and she clutches his neck.

"I never got the hang of this flying thing," she comments, seeming to be less nervous now that they have escaped her attackers.

"I'll protect you," Peter whispers, and Claire snuggles against him. Then a shot rings out in the night. The bullet whistles through the air and strikes Peter in the side of the head. His eyes go blank and Claire realizes that... that...

"Peter!" she screams as they begin to fall. She panics, twisting his neck and attempting to push her finger into the bullet hole, but the bullet has penetrated too deeply and she can't get it out. Peter can't fly, can't regenerate, and they plummet through the air towards the water.

At the last second before they reach the ocean's surface, Claire lets go of Peter's neck, and strikes the water heavily. She blacks out when her neck breaks with the force of the impact. A minute or so later, her body has healed itself and she comes to, but Peter has sunk into the dark water and she can't see him. She dives again and again, calling his name, but Peter is nowhere to be seen. She pulls herself to land and collapses on the ground, sobbing.

Somewhere in the water, Peter sinks towards the bottom of the sea, slowly regaining consciousness. The blow struck by the collision of body and ocean has dislodged the bullet. He claws his way to the surface and swims towards the solid ground, looking all the while for Claire. When he reaches the shore, she is gone. One shoe remains at the edge of the ocean and Peter picks it up. He stumbles towards the city, clutching the shoe. Wondering if he'll see her again.


End file.
